Left-hander David Holmberg had runners on first and third with nobody out on Sunday afternoon at Scottsdale Stadium. Gregor Blanco had lined a double to center and Brandon Crawford popped a bunt over the mound, a ball that for Holmberg amounted to an unlucky single.

But instead of an ugly inning, Holmberg wiggled out of it with minimal damage — a double play ground-ball scored a run, a fly out ended the inning — and he impressed his manager in the process.

“You don’t see the game speeding up on him,” Kirk Gibson said. “He stays in control, just continues to make his pitches. The next inning, he went out and had a real good inning. That second inning was real good. Executed really good pitches. I liked him.”

It was impressive in the kind of way that people have come to expect out of Holmberg. He’s not flashy. He’s not going to overpower with stuff. He probably isn’t going to strike out a ton of hitters at the upper levels.

But folks rave about his advanced feel for pitching, about the fact that he seems wise beyond his years when he’s on the mound. And they seem confident that he’ll have a solid big league career, even if he isn’t the type of guy to light up radar guns.

“He has mound presence of a veteran player,” Double-A Mobile pitching coach Dan Carlson said. “He repeats his delivery great. He has a great feel for four pitches. He has good sink, excellent location and he carries himself like he’s never nervous, never fazed. He’s going to be a good, solid major league pitcher.”

In a 2012 season split between High-A Visalia and Mobile, Holmberg posted a 3.32 ERA in 173 1/3 innings. He struck out 153 batters, but more impressive was hit 4.1 strikeout/walk ratio.

“I try be a strike-thrower, first and foremost,” said Holmberg, who is expected to open the year back at Double-A. “Throwing strikes leads to ground balls, double plays and makes things happen for your team.”

Carlson compares him to Terry Mulholland and Gibson mentioned that others in the organization have used David Wells as a comp, which is why it’s kind of funny to hear who Holmberg idolized growing up.

“I originally wanted to be like Randy Johnson and throw 100 mph,” Holmberg said. “He was fun to watch. But Tom Glavine is kind of a similar type of pitcher. He works around the zone and keeps guys off balance. Just getting through games fast and getting outs real quick.”

Along with Daniel Hudson, Holmberg came to the Diamondbacks in the July 2010 trade that sent Edwin Jackson to the Chicago White Sox. The Diamondbacks already have done pretty well in the deal, given what Hudson meant to their 2011 club and, presumably, what he can mean after he returns from elbow surgery.

If Holmberg pans out, it would be icing on the cake. Carlson, for one, thinks that he will.

“I think if he stays healthy,” Carlson said, “he could have a 10-year big league career, win a ton of ballgames and be steady.”

***

Early this morning, Miguel Montero, Martin Prado and Gerardo Parra boarded a plane destined for Florida, where they will meet with their fellow Venezuelan countrymen in preparation for the World Baseball Classic.

Montero likes his team’s chances.

“Things can go wrong, but we’ve got a good squad, man,” Montero said Saturday. “I’m telling you, we’ve got some hitters. Top to bottom.”

“Pitching wise, I don’t know how we’ll do there,” Montero said “But if the bats get hot … It’s early, so it’s hard to tell if the bats are going to be hot, it’s not easy (this time of year). But if the bats get a little bit hot – just 50 percent, we’ve got a good chance.”

Montero has never represented Venezuela before, so the opportunity to do so means a lot to him. Baseball is the No. 1 sport in that country, and he thinks this year’s team has a chance to do what the previous team could not – win it all.

In 2009, Venezuela’s roster was stacked with perhaps as many big-name players, but as Montero notes, many of them weren’t immediately in their prime as this year’s group appears to be. That team had Bobby Abreu, Melvin Mora and Magglio Ordonez, among others.

“They had a really good team as well, but it was a little bit older guys,” Montero said. “Great players, great careers, but I think we have more prime (age) guys than they did.”

***

Outfielder Cody Ross’ return to the lineup didn’t last very long. Only 2 1/2 innings, in fact.

Ross, who hadn’t played in three days because of an issue with his left calf, came out of the game after he felt more tightness there in his leg.

Ross doesn’t want anyone sounding any panic alarms, but Gibson made it sound like he isn’t likely to get back out on the field anytime soon.

“We’re probably going to shut him down for a while,” Gibson said. “We won’t mess around with it now. We don’t want it to go into the start of the season.”

Obviously a fully healthy player is better than the alternative, but if you’re going to need to get shut down for a week or so, now’s the time for it. There’s still about a month to go before the season, meaning Ross should be able to get enough at-bats to get his timing down before Opening Day.

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